Customs Law

I am proud to be moderating the 15th Annual Dominick L. DiCarlo Court of International Trade Lecture at the John Marshall Law School in Chicago on April 20, 2017. John Marshall's Center for International Law was kind enough to start hosting this program in memory of the important contributions Judge DiCarlo made to the practice of trade law and to the three John Marshall alumni who served him as law clerks. The program will include a conversation with the Honorable Jennifer Choe-Groves about her transition from government and private practice to a judge of the Court of International Trade. We will also talk about the nature of practice before the specialized court. Following the Judge, there will be two informative CLE panels covering developments in trade compliance. Once will focus on developments in supply-chain risks such as the growing use of False Claims Act cases and changes in U.S. sanctions policies. The second panel will focus on numerous aspects of intellectual prop

Understanding the scope of antidumping and countervailing duty orders is critically important for customs compliance professionals. It does a company no good whatsoever to find a low-cost producer of some product somewhere outside the U.S. only to later discover after importation that the merchandise is subject to an antidumping or countervailing duty. Given that antidumping and countervailing duties are often in excess of 30% and have been as high as 300%, this is a potentially serious concern. If Customs and Border Protection discovers the error and the error resulted from negligence, it can collect the unpaid duties plus penalties covering a five-year period. In some cases, that can be enough to bankrupt a small importer. Before we get into this case, let me dispel a common misunderstanding. CBP "flags" HTSUS classifications that are potentially subject to an ADD or CVD order. As a result, many brokers and importers manage AD and CVD compliance through tariff classificat

Thanks to everyone at ICPA who stopped by to tell me that they read the blog. I don't always pay close attention to the site analytics and I don't have particularly good visibility of who is visiting. Seeing you all in real life is very encouraging. Keep reading. See you in San Diego.

Because this is the 21st Century, I figured I should try more than one media. Below is the recording of a webinar I conducted with my colleague Chuck Joern . Consumer Products and Import Requirements from Barnes Global Trade on Vimeo .

WWRD U.S. v. United States is exactly the kind of case that makes me love what I do. Much like our recent foray into sunflowers seeds , this case seems to have a simple answer that gets derailed by the law. It has to do with some potentially festive articles, which is also one of my favorite legal topics. The question here is the classification of several examples of tableware that are decorated with Christmas or Thanksgiving motifs. The items have names like "Old Britain Castles - Pink Christmas" and "12 Days of Christmas crystal flutes." Customs and Border Protection classified the merchandise in various headings based on their composition. The plaintiff protested and asserted that the merchandise is specifically designed and intended for use in conjunction with Christmas or Thanksgiving dinners. According to plaintiff, that makes the correct classification HTSUS item 9817.95.01, which reads: Articles classifiable in subheadings 3924.10, 3926.90, 6307.90, 69